Kirishima, watching the giant screen with Rumi, saw the crowd crying out for All Might.
It was moving, in a way, but...
For some reason, his chest ached.
Those voices, that hope, proved the history the man had built.
He had appeared out of nowhere and saved everyone within reach. That was how he became the Symbol of Peace, and now he was receiving the cheers of the entire world.
But who would fight for the man who had fought for everyone else?
Kirishima knew All Might the human being—no, Yagi Toshinori.
He was timid, and surprisingly fragile.
Despite his tall frame, the aftereffects of his injuries had left him gaunt, and he coughed up blood at the slightest provocation.
On the day Hero All Might died, would Yagi Toshinori survive?
"I don’t feel very good about this. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
"Yeah, I get it. I feel the same way."
Was destruction borne with responsibility not, in the end, emptier than destruction without it?
What did a man who had fought by carving away at himself and burning through his own life feel now, standing before his lifelong enemy?
Kirishima was forty-one if he counted both his past life and this one, yet he had never once met anyone he could call a true nemesis.
All Might and All For One belonged to an entirely different generation.
Weathered by time, by fate, and by each other, they were remarkable—but regrettably, they were not his opponents.
Even if he could not yet reach their level, Kirishima understood one thing.
There was no comparing himself, who had nothing left but to grow stronger, with them, who had nothing left but to weaken.
Even setting that aside, the two of them were each other’s destined foes. It had little to do with Kirishima.
"Hmm, Rumi. Have you ever met someone and thought, I’m going to keep colliding with this person for the rest of my life? Enemy or ally."
"Me? No, not yet. Before I met you, I thought maybe you’d turn out to be that kind of guy, but you’re better than I expected. We get along, too. Doesn’t really feel like you’re an enemy."
"I’m not actually your enemy, though."
"You know that’s not what I meant. Seriously, you’re twisted."
"Mm. Sorry about that."
Even if she had been active longer than Kirishima, Rumi was still only twenty-six. Maybe she was simply too young to have met the enemy fate had set aside for her.
He raised his head and looked up at the sky.
The starlight that had slowly surrendered its place as human power grew brighter and stronger had never truly vanished.
Here and there, stars still revealed themselves, piercing through the sea of artificial light blazing with electricity running through copper wires.
In the past, people had once read human destiny in the stars.
"I wonder where my enemy is."
"Hm? What was that?"
"Nothing."
It had been a quiet murmur, small enough that even Rumi’s sharp hearing beside him had barely caught it.
He brushed off her question and turned his gaze back to the screen.
On a stage he had been forced to leave because he still lacked the standing to remain, a fallen king and a fading hero were burning away the last of their light inside a square of space no more than a few meters wide.
For now, more than the future, he wanted to engrave this decisive battle before his eyes.
Kirishima still had plenty of time ahead of him.
At that same moment, All Might reignited the flame of will passed down to him by his master.
His voice, forced back out after being suppressed for so long, sounded as if it might burst apart at any moment, yet it was steadier than any voice in the world.
"Young lady... of course..."
Golden lightning, symbol of an age of prosperity, coiled around his arm.
Though it was only one arm, the sight of him growing larger and stronger as if defying time itself was truly awe-inspiring.
"That’s... right... Heroes have so much to protect! All For One! That’s why... I will not lose!"
The vanished smile returned, if only to that gaunt face.
Blue eyes filled with will broke free of their haze and began to blaze fiercely once more.
The words of the master who had turned a boy with nothing but a dreamlike wish into a hero rose past the wall of forgetfulness and surfaced in his mind.
"Toshinori, whenever you feel you’ve reached your limit, remember."
"Remember what?"
"What do you clench your fists for?"
"What for?!"
"Your starting point. Your origin. That will carry you just a little beyond your limit."
"My... origin!"
When he closed his eyes, he saw his master standing with flames burning behind her.
As if speaking with someone who could not possibly be there, he recalled the self he had once been.
The place where everything began. Yagi Toshinori’s origin.
"I want to create a world where everyone can live with a smile."
He heard his own voice, the kind someone might laugh at for being childish.
Words that knew nothing of reality, words that sounded like a dream—Yagi Toshinori, All Might, had turned them into reality one stubborn step at a time.
Strength filled his clenched fist.
Golden lightning settled brilliantly over his arm and lit the darkness.
Gran Torino, who had been knocked away and briefly lost consciousness before waking, watched with sunken eyes.
"He’s already neutralized attacks on that scale several times. He must have exceeded his operating limit long ago! Muscle Form with only his right arm left. That distorted shape says everything!"
What he realized, unfortunately, All For One could see as well.
A man who had spent even longer than Gran Torino in slaughter and conspiracy was never going to be easy to fool.
As if to say that the one wearing the clothes, not the clothes themselves, created a person’s presence, All For One spoke calmly, radiating kingly dignity despite his suit being torn in places.
"Your all-out effort... that will be your final blow, All Might. A wounded Hero is the most frightening thing in the world. That face you made when you charged me while spilling your guts... it still drifts through my dreams from time to time."
Both All Might and Gran Torino felt the danger in that posture.
"This is bad. He’s got two or three more shots in him!"
At that moment, raging flames crashed down over All For One.
The explosive gust scattered the fire, but it also broke up the timing of his attack.
The owner of those flames, his body burning, made no effort to hide his fury as he shouted,
"What the hell is that pathetic state you’re in, All Might?!"
"You somehow made it in time!"
Endeavor and Edge Shot, two powerful reinforcements, had arrived on the scene.
All For One looked at them with genuine surprise.
"Oh? They were all mid-level, but you’ve already subdued those Nomu? As expected of the man who rose to No. 2!"
"All Might!"
Unfortunately, Endeavor’s gaze was fixed on All Might alone.
The man he had spent decades chasing was wounded, weakened, and looked as though he might collapse at any moment. The sight made him furious beyond endurance.
If this was what All Might had become, then what had Endeavor himself been all this time? The man who trained and trained with only that one target in mind yet could not reach him. The man who despaired as that target drifted farther away. The man who had committed shameful acts just to surpass him.
With bloodshot eyes, he roared,
"What is with that miserable back of yours?!"
"If you only came to watch, then stay quiet like a proper spectator. This is a rather important match for me."
All For One’s arm swelled as he turned it toward Endeavor.
At that instant, a pure and resolute voice cut across his words.
"Don’t talk nonsense! We came here to help!"
Extending an arm made of tree trunks, the man had gathered up the people Kirishima and Rumi had been unable to carry and bound them together. Looking at Mount Lady in his arms, he said,
"You did well, Mount Lady."
"Shinrin Kamui!"
"All Might! This is all we can do. But at least let us help carry even a little of what you’ve borne!"
"Tiger!"
Tiger, whom Kirishima and Rumi had hidden in a corner because he was too large for them to bring along and too cumbersome to move just by walking, had somehow come to and risen to his feet as well.
Watching Endeavor launch himself at All For One and join the fierce battle, he continued,
"Stop that evil monster. Everyone is praying for your victory! No matter what form you take, you are still everyone’s No. 1 Hero!"
Watching that scene, Gran Torino remembered a conversation he had once had with Shimura Nana.
She had once said she knew an interesting madman.
As the sun set, she had told him about a boy who said crime never decreased because people had no pillar to lean on—and that he would become that pillar himself.
Gran Torino had laughed it off back then, but that little boy had finally grown up and kept his promise.
"Toshinori, you are a pillar. A pillar that must never break. The No. 1 Hero. You can hear them, can’t you? The voices of everyone still cheering for you, even after seeing the body that has weakened to this extent. The voices of everyone who wants your victory. The voices of the students who admire you and want to become Heroes like you!"
"Hmph. How irritating."
All For One fired a massive blast of wind pressure toward the ground.
The absurd shockwave blew away every Hero rushing at him.
"Let’s set aside all this talk of spirit and discuss reality instead. Springlike Limbs, [Springlike Limbs], Kinetic Booster x4, Strength Enhancer x3, Hypertrophy, Rivet, Air Walk, Spearlike Bones. The shockwaves you’ve shown so far only wear down stamina. They lack certainty."
His arm swelled into a grotesque shape.
Studded with all kinds of metallic objects and larger than an average man’s torso, it glowed red in places, a sight as grotesque as it was deeply terrifying.
"With the greatest, most optimal Quirks I can now multiply and combine... I will kill you!"
"The moment our hands met, I became certain. [One For All] no longer remains inside you. What you’re using now is only the afterglow. The dregs. The leftover embers after passing it on. And those embers only grow weaker every time you use them. A spark that will fade and die even without the wind blowing."
He charged at All Might, certain he was about to witness the end of their final battle, and shouted,
"Midoriya Izuku! He’s the one you passed [One For All] to, isn’t he? That boy barged in without the qualifications and can’t control it at all! You may regret it to your heart’s content as you die, All Might. Even as a teacher, this is your defeat!"
The fists of two giants who had each dominated an era collided head-on.
Energy too immense to comprehend slammed together between their fists, compressed, and at last exploded.
As shockwaves beyond anything before tore through everything around them, All For One activated impact reversal as well.
A portion of All Might’s power returned to him.
Sliding backward, teeth clenched, All Might answered him.
"That’s right. He’s still lacking. Which is why, as his teacher... I have to scold him! I’m the one who has to set him straight!"
"Oh...?"
"So you’re resisting while clutching embers that would go out even without the wind. You’re struggling desperately, trying to endure until you fulfill your duty!"
"How ugly!"
Driven back by All For One’s power, All Might’s arm burst open in places, spraying blood.
He endured, remembering the words of the person who had been both his master and his mother, the one more precious to him than anyone in the world.
"Not just as a symbol. Just as my master taught me... until I raise that boy properly... until then!"
All Might, who had been pushed back without end, finally stopped for a single instant.
At the same time, lightning began to whirl around his left hand as well.
Looking at the pitiful resistance of his ancient enemy, All For One spoke with complicated emotion.
"To think you were resisting so pathetically to this extent."
"I still—!"
"—misjudged you!"
"I still cannot die!"
In an instant, All Might shifted the power in his right arm, which had been blocking All For One’s force, into his left arm.
Naturally, his right arm was shoved back helplessly—but in exchange, he was able to smash his left fist into All For One’s exposed face.
But it seemed not to do much damage. All For One immediately activated a Quirk in his left arm as well and shouted,
"A cheap trick that doesn’t suit you! Who did you learn that from, I wonder? But it’s shallow!"
At that moment, seeing All Might’s eyes—cold as ice, yet burning hot as the sun—All For One realized something was wrong.
But was he already too late?
With a roar, All Might shouted,
"Because I hadn’t put my hips into it!"
Power gathered in the right hand he had drawn back and opened, a power passed down across generation after generation, carrying nothing but the will to save others.
That power shone like a cluster of stars, passing one, two, three, four, five, six, through the seventh turning point, and blazed like the final death cry of a star at the end of its life.
"So many people entrusted that power to the next generation. All hoping it could help everyone. Hoping it could become a single light of hope. Now it’s your turn. Let’s do our best together, Toshinori."
A voice that should not have been audible reached All Might’s ears.
At the same time, the power and the will accumulated over long years exploded.
All Might planted his left foot into the earth.
His waist turned, and the tightly coiled muscles of his back slowly unfurled.
In that instant that felt like eternity, All Might bid farewell not only to his own fate, but to the being who had been the fate of every predecessor before him.
"Farewell, All For One!"
His fist slammed into the face of All For One, who had lost every organ but his mouth.
The cry of his soul burst from his chest.
"UNITED! STATES OF! SMAAASH!!!!"
Carrying the resentment of all the victims that had piled up until now, carrying the wishes of all those who had died for peace, his fist crushed All For One’s face and drove him into the earth.
A storm swept across the battlefield.
Feeling [One For All], which had been with him his whole life, crumble and scatter away, All Might let it go with gratitude.
The long night broke apart and vanished.
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